Twenty Questions
by mysticxf
Summary: Jack invites himself along on one of Kate’s latenight hiking trips.


Lost and its characters belong to JJ Abrams and crew. I'm just borrowing for some non-profit fun. Jack invites himself along on one of Kate's late-night hiking trips. For a friend, who went way easy on me with this challenge. Enjoy.

Lost – Twenty Questions

By Mystic

July 12th 2005

"Hey, where are you going?" Jack shouted, watching Kate head off into the jungle with her backpack full of water bottles. He stood too quickly and stumbled as he rushed to her, watching the way her eyes searched his for a reason. She licked her bottom lip before biting down on it, waiting until he was in front of her. "Where are you going?" Jack repeated.

Kate lowered her eyebrows and shrugged, looking away a moment as she answered with an annoyed laugh, "Where's it look like I'm going?"

Jack gave a nod, one hand on his waist, the other pointing off in the direction she'd been heading. "Looked like you were going into the jungle. With a full load. At night."

She pursed her lips and nodded, watching the way his eyes went wide as his eyebrows rose on his forehead. "What?" She asked simply.

"You're going into the jungle at night, Kate, do you realize how dangerous that is?"

Shaking her head, she shrugged. "Doesn't seem that dangerous to me."

"I know you like the beach, but come on, you can spend one night at the caves."

"Not heading to the beach," she informed him, tilting her head to the left, studying his reaction.

Jack tensed. "So, you're just going out there." He looked away when she nodded. "Do you like making me worry?"

Kate put a hand on her forehead. "I didn't decide to do this to make you worry about me, Jack. I just wanted to go out there. I go out there all the time…"

"During the day," he interrupted with a nod.

"What makes it more dangerous at night?" She smiled. "Jack, what? Vampires? Come on."

He raised a finger and walked back towards the caves, picking up his own pack and jamming an extra bottle of water into it. He came to stand in front of her, clicking the strap across his stomach, and he nodded. "You go; I go."

"Jack, I don't need your protection." Kate dropped her arms, looking upset.

"No," he shook his head. "But I'm not letting you go out there by yourself."

"And they say chivalry is dead." She muttered with a shrug. "Fine Jack, but if you scream like a girl, I'm so telling Sawyer."

"Why would I scream like a girl?" Jack asked, stepping up to her side and raising a hand so she could lead the way.

He watched the way she hesitated and he wanted to ask her why, but she broke eye contact with him as he opened his mouth. Pushing back the foliage, she began to walk into the jungle and Jack felt his heart thump realizing he was actually going to follow her. She seemed to know where she was going and it calmed him some, but he couldn't help jump when he heard a bird squawk something fierce off in the distance.

Kate laughed. "You weren't a boy scout, were you?"

Jack shook his head. "Nah, my father didn't think there was much use in knowing how to light a fire or know which direction you're traveling." He adjusted his straps. "So, you a girl scout?"

"No, my father didn't think there was much use in knowing how to make beaded bracelets and sell cookies," she huffed, climbing over a fallen tree trunk.

He laughed. "So what did your father find useful?"

"What is this, twenty questions?" Kate asked.

Jack nodded slowly, noting she'd avoided the question. "That's a good idea."

"What?" She asked incredulously, holding a branch out of the way for Jack.

"Twenty questions." He smiled. "It'll help us get to know one another."

"I'm pretty sure we know each other about as well as we're going to," Kate huffed silently.

He turned, watching her eyes stare at the ground. Jack let her pass him and she stopped, looking around. Kate pointed towards a large circle of tall trees. Going into the center, Jack watched her start to pile up some random branches in the center. He wondered just how safe a fire in a ring of trees would be, but he measured the diameter to be about twenty feet. A small fire was probably safe.

"When's your birthday?" Kate asked suddenly.

"July fourteenth." He smiled. "What's yours?"

"June eighteenth." Kate arranged the branches, not looking up at him. "Where did you grow up?"

"California. Mostly Los Angeles." Jack sat down, removing his backpack as she lit the fire. "What about you?"

Kate thought a moment and he thought maybe she was going to stop the game, but she shrugged. "Lots of places." Her eyes met his over the growing flames. "I wasn't lying when I said my dad was a US Army Ranger." Then she turned away. "Mostly, Iowa."

"Farm girl," he laughed. "Never would have figured you for a farm girl."

"How'd you get your tattoo's?" she shot quickly, stopping his train of thought dead.

Jack scratched his head and started to laugh. "One too many drinks in college." Jack studied her through the flames, watching her remove her backpack and lay it on the ground gently, removing her water bottle and taking a long drink. "You have any?"

"Tattoos?" She shook her head. "No, never got that drunk."

He watched her grin at him. "Your turn," he nodded his head at her.

Kate wrapped her knees in her arms and sighed. "What made you want to become a doctor?"

"Love of people." Jack looked away. "What made you run?"

"Fear of people," she answered, pulling a mango out of her bag. "What makes you so curious?"

Jack shrugged, jumping when she threw the fruit at his head. He caught it with a loud smack and he put it in his lap, rubbing his palm. "That a question?"

"Ended with the appropriate punctuation mark," Kate responded with a shrug. It was a dare, he knew, to answer her question.

"I just wanna know what makes you tick." It was honest and she nodded her head slowly, pulling another mango out and slicing it in half with a knife. She threw the knife and it chinked into the tree behind him, startling him. "So what makes you tick?" he asked her, yanking the knife out to slice his fruit into pieces.

Kate smirked and he knew she was going to side-step the question. "The will to survive." He scoffed and she laughed. "What keeps you up at night, Jack?" Kate took a bite of mango and watched him as she chewed slowly.

He watched the flames dance in her eyes. She really wanted to know. "That your question?" She nodded. "Fear."

"Of what?" Kate asked.

"My turn," he responded. He took the knife in his hand and tossed it gently towards her, watching her catch it in the air and jam it into the ground next to her. "Highest level of education achieved."

"Bachelor's in Liberal Arts."

"You lying to me, Kate?" He teased.

"My turn." She smiled. "Why do you hate Sawyer so much?"

"He's an asshole." Jack furrowed his brow. "Why do you defend him?"

She shrugged. "Reminds me of someone I knew."

"Who does he remind you… your turn," he smiled and waved a hand up towards her, watching her chuckle and lower her head.

"What are you afraid of, that keeps you up at night?"

He shrugged. "Someone will get hurt and I won't be able to do anything about it." Jack lowered his vision to the fire and felt his eyes burning. Then Jack raised his head. "Who does Sawyer remind you of, specifically?"

"And why too?" Kate snorted.

"Just answer the question," Jack sighed.

She shrugged. "My dad, mostly."

"Wow." He swallowed his words and saw that she noticed and turned away. Jack wanted to look at her, watch her eyes contemplate thoughts, watch her face give away emotion, but in the dark of night with the small fire, he could only see shadows.

"Why were you on the flight?"

Did he never tell her? Jack bit into the mango and watched her do the same. "I was bringing my dad back home."

Kate started to ask a question, but closed her mouth and waited. He wondered for a moment why and then he realized it was his turn. "Do you like Sawyer?"

Her head whipped up to face him and her eyebrows fell just a moment before she replaced the repulsion with amusement. Jack laughed. "Define 'like'," she threw a hand in the air.

"Would you sleep with him?" Jack asked darkly.

"Jack, come on, that's not a fair question," Kate spat.

"It's a question none the less," he pointed out.

Kate frowned and lobbed her head from one side to the other before admitting. "Under the right circumstances."

"Seriously?" Jack flinched.

"You asked," she answered. "I'm just trying to be honest here."

"Don't try that hard," Jack told her, taking his water bottle out of his pack. He heard her laugh just a little and it made him smile.

Kate watched him take a long drink and then put the cap back on. "If we weren't on this island, what would you be doing? Right now."

Jack opened his mouth to answer and heaved out a long breath. He really didn't know. Sighing, he responded, "If the flight had made it to Los Angeles, I'd be trying to help my mom put her life back together while trying to keep mine from falling apart."

Kate considered, nodding her head.

"My dad died in Australia. I was bringing him back to bury him." Jack told her, filling in the blanks he wasn't sure she was interested in. "Same question."

"I'd be in jail," she whispered, biting down on her bottom lip hard. She flinched and raised her head. "Can we not play anymore?"

Jack considered and then nodded. "Ten questions for you; ten for me, I think we've satisfied the rules of the game. Sort of."

Kate sniffed loudly and he watched her wipe at her cheeks. "Why are you crying?"

"You said the game was over," she told him.

"Well, we could start it back up," he responded with a smile.

But it only made her shake her head and bury it in her knees. "That's not funny, Tom."

He stood and stopped, staring down at her. Jack watched her shoulders give a shrug and then her head came up quickly, her eyes meeting his.

"Jack." Her voice was sharp, as if telling herself that what she'd said before wasn't the name of another man. He walked slowly around the fire and sat next to her. He nudged her with his shoulder.

"If you could be anywhere else right now, where would you be?"

"Thought you said the game was over," she sniffled.

He could see she'd already contained the emotions she'd accidentally slipped out. "One more question."

Kate's body waved with another nudge of his arm and she smiled. She pushed him back and he laughed when he almost toppled over. But she caught him, letting him go quickly and clasping her hands together in front of her, feeling for the warmth of the small fire. He watched her chance a glance up at him and she shrugged, shaking her head. "Can't think of a better place to be."

Finis


End file.
